Today's law enforcement officers have various means of technology at their disposal to perform their tasks. Police vehicles are typically equipped with some form of computerized technology that allows the officer access to critical information, and video/audio equipment that captures on-scene information that is commonly used as evidence in legal proceedings. However, while technology has provided law enforcement officers powerful tools to perform their jobs, it has also added a level of complexity for officers on patrol.
An officer on patrol routinely receives bulletins and alerts regarding criminal activity. The communications are typically sent to the officer over a radio system and/or electronically to an onboard receiver in the officer's vehicle or hand held radio. These communications are typically transmitted from police headquarters or dispatch centers and provide key details regarding suspects and other information relevant to the criminal activity or occurrence of interest. A patrol officer may receive multiple alerts regarding different occurrences and various details, the officer could become overloaded with the level of information he has to personally monitor while still performing his other tasks and controlling the vehicle.
Conventional vehicle radio/receiver or computer systems used by law enforcement are generally not configured to perform and respond to on-the-spot real-time data capture and characterization. Thus, while vast amounts of data and information are available to today's law enforcement officers, the technology at their disposal lacks the ability to perform automatic and autonomous characterization of and response to available data. In addition to law enforcement, other institutions and establishments (e.g., banks, casinos, convenience stores, retail establishments, etc.) generally utilize conventional technology providing limited or no autonomous data characterization and response capability.
A need remains for techniques to improve the operational and processing ability of technology as used for law enforcement and other public safety related organizations. The advancements in the processing capability should also increase safety and efficiency in the performance of law enforcement officers' daily duties.